He talks about them on his show, and newspapers and magazines often have photos of him at car shows or with new purchases.

But someone has to take care of all of those vehicles, and that someone is Bernard Juchli, general manager of Leno’s Big Dog Garage in Burbank, Calif. (www.jaylenosgarage.com)

Juchli and his wife drove four days from California so he could race his Honda RS250 at this weekend’s Barber Vintage Festival at Barber Motorsports Park.

“That is how I spend my vacations,” Juchli said. “I go racing.”

He’s taking a couple of weeks break from Big Dog Garage — and Leno’s 140 cars and 110 motorcycles — to race only twice on the East Coast this year: This weekend in Birmingham, and next weekend in Daytona Beach, Fla.

That was when Leno contacted Juchli to do some work on a Jaguar he owned.

“My name came up, because at the time, I was more or less ‘Mr. Jaguar,’ with a Jaguar service and restoration shop,” Juchli said. “I did that work for him, and then he realized it was actually cheaper just to hire me.”

Juchli comes by his garage talents honestly. His father owned a Volkswagen and Porsche dealership in Switzerland before he moved the family to California.

“I kind of grew up in the garage,” Juchli said. “I never had a chance to do anything else.”

But he wouldn’t have it any other way, enjoying the job that lets him pursue his own love of motorcycles and cars during his off-time.

By day, he makes sure that most of Leno’s vehicles are road-worthy and ready to be driven — his boss could stop by at any moment.

“He drives everything,” Juchli said. “He’ll come in in the evening and change cars. I see him every day.”

And Leno likes to tinker.

“He likes to get into a car and take things apart, but half the time he realizes he needs to be somewhere else, and we wind up having to put it back together again for him,” Juchli said with a laugh.

The Big Dog Garage collection is an impressive one, Juchli said, who said the vehicles are “worth millions.”

“I don’t know how many millions, but it’s up there,” he said.

His favorite Leno-owned vehicles “depend on what you want to do.”

“If you want to go out into the mountains for a drive, the McLaren F1 is an obvious choice,” Juchli said of the car that can reach speeds of 240 mph. “But if you want to go out to dinner in Beverly Hills with your lady, there’s a beautiful 1931 Bentley.”

‘Awesome track’

Juchli first visited Barber Motorsports Park with Leno a few years ago at the invitation of George Barber.

“We came here and saw the museum, and Mr. Barber drove us around the track in his minivan,” Juchli said. “It’s an awesome track. This track could be in Europe. This is a class act.”

Juchli will practice on the track today and run races on both Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s mostly for fun, but I’m here to win,” he said. “There’s no point otherwise, is there?”